The last post shows that our summer wedding tour is now finished. As a result, it's time to get my rear in gear and stop allowing bad, indulgent behavior. I haven't tracked since the week of Katy and Jay's wedding and I haven't been on a real run (or had a real workout) in a month. I'd been psyching myself out of running and putting it off for a few weeks. Finally, Christina @ Making Healthy the Norm (aka my friend and neighbor) challenged me to lace up my shoes and do just a mile.
And so, last night, I did.
And it kicked my @$$.
I left my house at 7:30 and it was still pretty warm outside. I ran the first 7:24, walked a minute, then finished it out in 12:30. It was hard. Then I did 2 intervals of run 3/walk 1, and then just walked the rest of the way home. I walked over 2 miles, but I did the first two (the rest was all walking) in 28 minutes. Then I came home and lifted some weights for my arms (I've been hating on them lately since they have no muscle to speak of anymore) and jumped in the pool.
All in all, I'm pretty disappointed in myself. Yes, getting out there that first time is always the hardest, but just HOW hard it was really showed me how much I slacked this month and how hard I'm going to have to work if I want to hit the half in October... At this point, I'm really doubting myself. But, I'm going to do my best.
On another note, this run also reminds me how lucky I am. Sometimes (often) it's easy for me to get discouraged by my running. Even after a longer time off, Jon will always be faster and better able to run through discomfort than me and I have friends in real life and on the blogs who have outstanding stamina and endurance. It's hard to not do the comparisons and end up being really hard on myself and feeling inadequate. Buuuut, today's run reminded me of something different: even if I'm feeling down, it's these same people who challenge me to get out there and run that first mile or who cheer me on the same for a small victory as for a big win, never once poo-pooing my smaller, less impressive runs, but who encourage me to keep going.
With that kind of support, it can only keep getting better from here. :)
